Incredibly – because it feels like July 1 was just yesterday – the month of August is just around the corner.

Slowly but surely, another Maple Leafs training camp will be here before we even know it.

Speaking of which, it appears that Auston Matthews, who’s coming off an incredible 69 goal campaign, is wasting no time preparing for the upcoming season. Last week, he was spotted skating at Toronto’s training facilities, which (only in this market), caused some serious headlines. And that was the first topic point as we got cooking on the latest summer edition of Leafs Morning Take. What do we want to see from AM34 in 2024-25? Honestly, the conversation was mostly about the playoffs, and what the best goal scorer on the planet can do to help push the Leafs over the top.

Presented by Greta Bar YYZ, we dove into the Mark Leach move. In case you missed it, the Leafs brought the 62-year-old in as the new Director of Amateur Scouting. He replaces Wes Clark, who’s now in Pittsburgh with Kyle Dubas. Leach spent the past 11 years with the Dallas Stars, who are widely regarded as the best drafting team in the NHL right now. Before that, he spent 20 years with the dynasty Detroit Red Wings where he won a grand total of four Stanley Cups. Impressive resume.

After that, we were joined by Ben Danford. Of course, the Leafs just took the Oshawa Generals defenceman with their first round pick at June’s draft in Vegas. The 18-year-old, who’s from a small town near Belleville, has been a Leafs since birth. Seriously, there’s a picture of him as a baby making the rounds and he’s sporting a Maple Leafs suss. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Stay tuned. Another edition of Leafs Morning Take will come your way on Thursday. We’ll discuss Connor Dewar’s new contract, among other relevant talking points.

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